Elements of Hindu Iconography v4.c29.s2: Ālvārs or Śrīvaishṇava Saints

Elements of Hindu Iconography v4.c29.s2

Language: English

Ālvārs or Śrīvaishṇava Saints

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Madhurakavi-yālvār. Tirumaliśai-yālvār. Tiruppāṇālvār. Tirumaṅgai-yālvār.(?) Nammālvār. Rāmānuja (or Uḍaiyavar). Garuḍa.

v4.c29.s2.2

Poygaiyālvār. Pēyālvār. Bhūtattālvār. Periyālvār. Kulaśēkharālvār. Toṇḍaraḍippoḍiyālvār. Tirumaṅgai-yālvār.

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Fig. 1. Tirujñānasambandha : Padmanābhapuram.

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Fig. 4. Sundaramūrti : Bronze : Padmanābhapuram.

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Māṇikkavāchakar : Bronze : Viśvakarma (Dr. A. K. K.).

people were owning slaves and that the latter had their names tattooed on their chests in token of their condition. Some sold themselves to others as slaves in times of famine. When once they became slaves, they were bound to serve their masters with the utmost fidelity; in short, they had to become practically members of the family of their masters and personally interest themselves in the welfare of their families; in other words the slaves became the bhaktas of their masters. As a concrete instance of this custom might be pointed out the life-size images of the Vijayanagara kings Kṛṣṇadēvarāya and Veṅkaṭapatidēvarāya and the queens of the former, Chinnādēvī and Tirumaladēvī, which are set up in the temple of Veṅkaṭēśa on the Tirumalai hill at Tirupati. These were apparently set up in their life-time as the paleography of the writing on their chests indicates. These devotees of Veṅkaṭēśa inscribed themselves as the slaves of the Lord of Tirumala and thereby bound themselves to do everything for the welfare of the temple and in testimony whereof they seem to have caused their images being set up in the temple with their names engraved on their chests, so that the images might be ever worshipping their own favourite god Veṅkaṭēśa (see Viśvakarma).

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